2025 was a challenging year for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Nevertheless, the IP Federation remained a steadfast supporter of DEI initiatives, including IP Inclusive, In2scienceUK and Physics Partners. How organisations are managing the current realities is well illustrated in our guest article by IP Inclusive’s Andrea Brewster OBE.
As Andrea reports, IP Inclusive celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2025. This included a panel discussion on “why do diversity & inclusion still matter?”, which was joined by IP Federation’s then President, Adrian Howes. This followed another excellent event from the European Diversity, Equity and Inclusion IP Forum 2025, organised by IP Inclusive, at which IP Federation’s DEI Chair, Alex Driver, led a panel discussion.
While celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, IP Inclusive also launched its in-house senior leaders’ pledge – an evolution from the original version designed for private practice IP departments. While its predecessor has received over a hundred signatures, there are, as at the time of writing, only 4 in-house signatories so far. Therefore, please show your support to inclusivity by signing up if you are in-house. Now, more than ever, it is important for the IP world to lead the way here.
In this regard, the IP Federation has also supported efforts by CIPA and many others, in particular its former President and 2025 CIPA President, Bobby Mukherjee, in developing a paralegal and patent attorney apprenticeship scheme. This scheme would create new structured vocational pathways into the IP profession. It is being designed to open the profession to a broader, more diverse talent pool, recognising that the future of IP depends on inclusion to innovate.
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